Education is defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction. Systematic instruction means routine, or something frequently given, such as in a classroom setting where you learn a little more each time. Life is an education. We are born looking through the dark glass because we don’t know everything. One could say that we don’t know anything save instinct. We learn as we go along. Formal education in a classroom is designed to give us rapid instruction or imputation of knowledge so we can learn quickly and hopefully retain that knowledge. Knowledge is supposed to be fact-based. But in today’s world, knowledge has become a smorgasbord of opinions where you can pick and choose from the buffet and declare your knowledge as truth regardless of facts.
The definition of education may still be the same, but if knowledge is absent facts, has education met its demise?
The motto of Thru Dark Glass is ‘Never Stop Learning’. Here comes a rapid vocabulary lesson. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is defined as facts and information acquired through education. Information is defined as facts provided. And facts are anything known or proven to be true. Whew. Don’t worry. There won’t be a quiz at the end. From all of that, we can see that education is supposed to be the teaching of what is true. But education should also include instruction on how to determine what is true. I’m talking about critical thinking skills. Those skills seem to be missing today.
Surely you’ve heard the phrase, “Trust the science!” It was all the rage a few years ago if you know what I mean. It was the mantra of those who wanted you to do what they told you. Just trust the science. Did you know that science means knowledge? ‘Trust the science’ literally means to trust what we know. But what if what you know doesn’t match up with what they call science? That’s where critical thinking skills come in. But let me go on a tangent for a moment.
Do you remember Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio? He said he was Pinocchio’s conscience. Conscience is the little voice in your head that tells you right from wrong. Notice that the word is con-science. Con is a prefix that means with. Conscience means ‘with knowledge’. That is why a conscience tells you what is right and wrong because you are already ‘with knowledge’ of right and wrong. It seems like a lot of people set their consciences aside and just do what they are told because they don’t have the critical thinking skills to question what they know with what they are being told. Maybe they just don’t have the knowledge to question it, but I think it’s because they haven’t been taught critical thinking.
Years ago as a youth pastor, I was asking a group of teenagers some questions. I don’t even remember the topic of that evening’s lesson, I just remember the story I’m about to tell you. It is that memorable. We had just gone over a passage in the Bible and I wanted them to grasp what the text was saying. I never wanted to be the kind of teacher that just gave the information to the students. I try pulling the information out of them. They just read the text with me, so all of the information they need is right there. If you can see the image on critical thinking here, it says problem, thinking, solution. My questions are the problems. They have the information from the text to think about and come up with the solution, or answers. They couldn’t do it. I gave them hints for the answers I was looking for. They still couldn’t get it. I gave them more obvious hints, and then even more obvious hints with some of the words I expected to be in the answers. They still couldn’t answer. I was dumbfounded. I had to give them the answers to my questions. I went home that night disheartened. I could be wrong, but it appeared that these kids have never been taught how to think, only what to think. Instead of being taught problem – thinking – solution, they’ve been taught problem – remember – solution. They need to be given the answers so they can just remember them to find the solution. That’s not how the real world works.
Isaiah 1:18 has a powerful saying. “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says Adonai.” The context is talking about making our sins as white as snow, but this sentence reveals our cognitive ability. YHWH is a God of reason and He created us with the ability to use logic and reason. It’s inside of us but it needs to be cultivated. If kids are taught what to think instead of how to think, then logic and reason have been suppressed. At that point, education is dead because the ability to learn using logic and reason is concealed. And the lack of logic creates more problems.
The Law of Non-Contradiction says that two opposing viewpoints cannot both be true at the same time. Both could be false, but one is definitely false. Using a light bulb as an example, we could say the light is either on or off but it cannot be both on and off at the same time. That defies logic. In today’s society, there are people who believe A and B when A and B cannot both be true at the same time. That means that one of the things they believe is a lie. Both could be false, but it is absolutely certain that one of them is false. So why believe in a lie? Because the ability to think logically and reason with the information has been suppressed inside of them.
Here is the case of two buttons. Which button is true? The red button says that the blue button is true. The blue button says the red button is false. It is impossible for either of them to ever be true. Unlike the light bulb which could be true or false, it is not possible for red or blue to be true. Yet there are people who will believe red or blue, or even believe both, because their thinking is based on opinion and not facts. People will pick and choose what they want to believe based on feelings. They want it to be true, so it’s true for them. If they are nice about it, they may say it’s ok for you to believe something different and that’s true for you. But two opposing viewpoints cannot both be true at the same time. And I’m not talking about religion here, but it’s becoming a religious issue. Because if they are not nice about the differences, then they want to force you to believe what they believe. You have to agree with them or else. You can try to reason with them and examine the facts to determine what is true, but it probably won’t work. They have been taught to NOT use logic and reason. The have been taught what to think. And as I’ve mentioned before, when you believe something strongly, it’s going to take a lot of facts to the contrary to bring you (or them) to the point of having a paradigm shift in thinking.
Education has suffered a might blow from removing logic and reason from instruction. But God put the ability to reason inside of us. Pray that it will be awakened before it is too late. Pray for wisdom to be revealed to them.
Proverbs 4:5-7 “Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. 6 Do not forsake her (wisdom), and she will guard you. Love her, and she will watch over you. 7 Wisdom is supreme—acquire wisdom! With all your acquisitions, get understanding.”
Now. Get out a pencil and paper. I lied about the quiz.
